Icenetwork: You were born in Atlanta and raised in the U.S. What is your connection with Brazil, and why did you choose to compete for this country?

Williams: My mother is from Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and I also have a very large family that lives in Brazil. Brazil is absolutely beautiful, and we try to visit as often as we can. My mother always talked to me about representing her country in figure skating, but I don't think either of us ever expected it to go this far. For me, the idea of representing a sport that had little tradition in Brazil seemed really intriguing.
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Icenetwork: How do you see figure skating developing in your country? Are there young girls who already follow your example?

Williams: Yes, but Brazil lacks the programs and facilities to really promote figure skating. We have yet to build an Olympic- or NHL-sized rink. I recently went to Rio de Janeiro for a presentation at a half-sized rink called Barra on Ice and was able to meet many young, aspiring skaters. They were so supportive of my skating, and I was very impressed by their ambition and enthusiasm toward the sport.

I would love for there to be a full-sized rink for them and future Brazilian figure skaters to train in.

Williams: Yes, but Brazil lacks the programs and facilities to really promote figure skating. We have yet to build an Olympic- or NHL-sized rink. I recently went to Rio de Janeiro for a presentation at a half-sized rink called Barra on Ice and was able to meet many young, aspiring skaters. They were so supportive of my skating, and I was very impressed by their ambition and enthusiasm toward the sport.

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If that is true, given the ISU requirement below, how does Brazil qualify to be a member of the ISU?

3. Minimum requirements
In order to guarantee the activity of Members in organizing and administering the ISU sport disciplines, the following minimum requirements for
Membership in the ISU shall be required.
.....
(ix) in existence in the country one or more actively operating natural or artificial ice rinks of a size adequate to practice the respective ISU sport discipline.

No idea.
It's not like it doesn't have one now (but it used to), Brazil has never had a single decent sized ice rink. All of rinks are stamp sized mall rinks.

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Go Isadora!!
Yes, unfortunately Brazil don't even have a decent sized ice rink... It's sad, because everybody here in Brazil are charmed when they have access to this sport (only in the OG...)
Isadora is an athlete with a lot of willpower to achieve your dream, because it's not easy being a brazilian athlete. There is a great lack of support, especially economic to athletes, and great force is necessary to achieve goals without this support.
But either way she achieved her dream, and the merit is all hers, her family and coaches. And all of us Brazilians who follow skating are very proud of her and we'll be cheering a lot for her and that sport has more popularity and structure to be practiced here.

Congrats. It is always heartening to note the lesser known countries in ice skating doing well. I hope the government is able to give her scholarship to train overseas in view of the limited resources in Brazil. It will really help her. good luck.

Congrats. It is always heartening to note the lesser known countries in ice skating doing well. I hope the government is able to give her scholarship to train overseas in view of the limited resources in Brazil. It will really help her. good luck.

Congrats. It is always heartening to note the lesser known countries in ice skating doing well. I hope the government is able to give her scholarship to train overseas in view of the limited resources in Brazil. It will really help her. good luck.

I've written this about a hundred times by now, but here's you 1253464th reminder
She IS Brazilian: any child born of at least one Brazilian parent, wherever in the world, is Brazilian.
Her mom is Brazilian, so there you have it.

And her family has paid for all of her skating. The Brazilian ice sports governing body is absolutely shite, and, as of now and as far as I know, never given financial support to either her or Luiz Manella (I think they paid for traveling/entry fees of some competitions).

I've written this about a hundred times by now, but here's you 1253464th reminder
She IS Brazilian: any child born of at least one Brazilian parent, wherever in the world, is Brazilian.
Her mom is Brazilian, so there you have it.

And her family has paid for all of her skating. The Brazilian ice sports governing body is absolutely shite, and, as of now and as far as I know, never given financial support to either her or Luiz Manella (I think they paid for traveling/entry fees of some competitions).

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How much money could they possibly have to give support outside of travel/entry fees?

The Brazilian ice sports governing body is absolutely shite, and, as of now and as far as I know, never given financial support to either her or Luiz Manella (I think they paid for traveling/entry fees of some competitions).

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They probably don't have any money to give. I know that's the case with a lot of the smaller ISU members who are run on a largely voluntary basis.

Recently the Brazilian Confederation of Ice Sports also underwent a management crisis, and this has also affected for a moment the support for athletes who practice these sports. This was also a hurdle in recent times.

I believe I read in an interview she gave she visits Brazil, but has never lived there. I think if you are going to represent a country at the Olympics, there should be some minimal residential requirement for the country you are representing. That being said, I do think she did a good job with her short program and looks promising.

I believe I read in an interview she gave she visits Brazil, but has never lived there. I think if you are going to represent a country at the Olympics, there should be some minimal residential requirement for the country you are representing. That being said, I do think she did a good job with her short program and looks promising.

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(my bolding)
Why? You don't think being a citizen of that country is enough? Isadora happened to pick a sport where taking up residence in one of her countries (Brazil) wouldn't get her anywhere due to lack of facilities and coaching options. If she had chosen soccer (football) for instance, then it might have made for an interesting choice of residencies or been able to realistically split-time.

I believe I read in an interview she gave she visits Brazil, but has never lived there. I think if you are going to represent a country at the Olympics, there should be some minimal residential requirement for the country you are representing. That being said, I do think she did a good job with her short program and looks promising.

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Suppose the shoe had been on the other foot and she'd been born in, say, Germany, to an American father and a German mother, and grown up there. And suppose she trained in Germany but wanted to compete for the U.S. Would we as a society say, no, you cannot do it unless you move here, or would we say, we are proud you want to represent us, now go out and do your best?

And why should the ISU or IOC care, as long as her Federation wants her and she has citizenship?

Recently the Brazilian Confederation of Ice Sports also underwent a management crisis, and this has also affected for a moment the support for athletes who practice these sports. This was also a hurdle in recent times.

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I understand it was also a political crisis between CBDG (Brazilian Ice Sports Federation) and the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), with allegations of corruption flying both ways. During that time, CBDG athletes got no financial help at all.

How much money could they possibly have to give support outside of travel/entry fees?

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Things tend to be done a bit different in Brazil: if a hight level athlete trains at a club, the club tends to pick up the tab. And, if the club doesn't have a sponsor, the sports ministry pays the club back. I don't know what kind of agreement CBDG with its athletes as far as helping with training fees, since the athletes train outside of the country are not affiliated to a club.

They probably don't have any money to give. I know that's the case with a lot of the smaller ISU members who are run on a largely voluntary basis.

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The thing is, they do.
We don't have a figure skating federation, we have CBDG, which rules all ice sports (speed/figure sakting, bobsled, skeleton, curling and hockey) and they get money from COB and the Sports Ministry. The problem is that nobody knows exactly where the money goes.
Every time the winter olympics roll around, the press has the "look at taxpayers money being wasted in winter sports, which are pointless for the country since we'll make a fool of ourselves at the games".

The thing is, they do.
We don't have a figure skating federation, we have CBDG, which rules all ice sports (speed/figure sakting, bobsled, skeleton, curling and hockey) and they get money from COB and the Sports Ministry. The problem is that nobody knows exactly where the money goes.
Every time the winter olympics roll around, the press has the "look at taxpayers money being wasted in winter sports, which are pointless for the country since we'll make a fool of ourselves at the games".

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Sorry to hear that beepbeep. That's really awful for the skaters.

Countries like Brazil should be putting all the funding they get into their young skaters to develop the sport more.

beepbeep, sorry to hear about the lack of support for winter athletes in Brazil. It's frustuating indeed. It is quite common that with limited budget allocated to athletes, it is always the more popular sports which get the bigger cake leaving the athletes of less popular sports to foot their own training bills. I wish the government could consider allocating some kind of scholarship to athletes who have proven to be able to reach a high standard on their own so that the monies can go into supporting them to obtain better coaching and training facilities.

I believe I read in an interview she gave she visits Brazil, but has never lived there. I think if you are going to represent a country at the Olympics, there should be some minimal residential requirement for the country you are representing. That being said, I do think she did a good job with her short program and looks promising.

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I agree, Iceman, and was disappointed to read that she's actually from the USA, not a native of the country that she's representing. Still, I enjoyed her and her skate the first time I saw her skate at Nebelhorn, as she reminded me of Shakespear's R&J quote about a rose.

beepbeep, sorry to hear about the lack of support for winter athletes in Brazil. It's frustuating indeed. It is quite common that with limited budget allocated to athletes, it is always the more popular sports which get the bigger cake leaving the athletes of less popular sports to foot their own training bills. I wish the government could consider allocating some kind of scholarship to athletes who have proven to be able to reach a high standard on their own so that the monies can go into supporting them to obtain better coaching and training facilities.

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Unfortunately even athletes of the most popular sports in Brazil (except soccer) suffer from a lack of support. There are examples in all sports. This is not a problem of lack of money or resources to support the athletes , but these are problems that we are not able to explain because they are also a puzzle for us sometimes (as beepbeep said, we do not know where goes the money intended to support the athletes), and there is also a lack of interest in supporting the athletes.
Once athletes have achieved their goals, after much effort, they remember that these athletes are representing Brazil, as is happening now: they are saying that Brazil will be represented for the first time in skating during the Olympics, as they had given the support they should. When the results of the efforts are coming, everyone wants to be close to appear.
It is with great sadness that I say this, but it happens a lot with athletes from various sports, from swimming to gymnastics.

-Some creative choreographer ought to take her up as his/her muse, and create a samba-inspired program just for her.

-My shot in the dark with regard to Brazil fulfilling the eligibility requirements for ISU figure skating membership is that the mandate for a rink "of a size adequate to practice...the discipline" is sufficiently vague to jam Brazil through the square peg if the ISU so chooses (which they apparently do).

-My shot in the dark with regard to Brazil fulfilling the eligibility requirements for ISU figure skating membership is that the mandate for a rink "of a size adequate to practice...the discipline" is sufficiently vague to jam Brazil through the square peg if the ISU so chooses (which they apparently do).

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I was given an answer to that question from the federation.
They said that Brazil can be a part of the ISU even without an adequate rink, they just don't get to vote on the decisions of the ISU council.
I'm still not sure whether to trust it...

I was given an answer to that question from the federation.
They said that Brazil can be a part of the ISU even without an adequate rink, they just don't get to vote on the decisions of the ISU council.
I'm still not sure whether to trust it...

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Interesting. I did not realize that one could be relegated to a less-than-full membership in this way. Pending the completion of requirements, I assume?